Nozzle structure in combination with a bidirectional air pump

ABSTRACT

A nozzle structure has an air pump casing to receive therein the air pump and provided with an outlet defined through a bottom face of the air pump casing and a resilient plate detachably engaging with a peripheral edge defining the outlet of the air pump casing via a guiding element such that air pumped by the air pump is able to push the resilient plate away from the outlet when air is blowing out of the air pump casing and an air pump axle extending out from the air pump is able to push the resilient plate away from engagement with the peripheral edge of the outlet to allow air to flow into the air pump casing.

CROSS REFERENCE

This is a continuation-in-part (CIP) of patent application Ser. No.10/733,082, filed on Dec. 11, 2003 by the same applicant of thisapplication. The content thereof is incorporated for referencehereinafter.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a nozzle structure, and moreparticularly to a nozzle structure for a bi-directional air pump toreadily facilitate pumping/drawing air into/out of an inflatable object.

2. Description of Related Art

The existing inflatable objects normally are respectively embedded withan air pump to pump the air into the inflatable object when required.After the inflatable objected is inflated, a unidirectional valve in theair pump is used as a stop for preventing air from leakage from theinflatable object. When the inflatable object is not in use, the userwill have to deflate the inflatable object manually so as to minimizethe space occupied by the deflated object. However, deflating theinflated object by hand is exhausting and too time consuming.

To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention tends to provide animproved nozzle structure to mitigate the aforementioned problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to provide an improvednozzle structure and a bi-directional air pump to facilitate inflatingand deflating the inflatable object.

In order to accomplish the aforementioned objective, the nozzlestructure of the present invention is provided with a guiding seatmovably attached to a peripheral edge defining an outlet of an air pumpcasing and a resilient plate securely engaged with a side face of theguiding seat such that when the air pump is actuated, the air pumped bythe air pump will push the guiding seat together with the resilientplate away from the outlet of the air pump casing and when theinflatable object is inflated and the air pump stops functioning, theair pressure inside the inflatable object will push the resilient plateand the guiding seat back to engage with the peripheral edge of theoutlet to seal the outlet. Thus air leakage is prevented.

Another objective of the present invention is that the air pump axle isable to abut a free end of a pole on the guiding seat when thebi-directional air pump is activated to draw the air inside theinflatable object out of the inflatable object such that the deflatingprocess is facilitated.

Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description when takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of the nozzle structure of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the nozzle structure when the elementsin FIG. 1 are assembled;

FIG. 3 is a partially cross sectional view showing the that the guidingplate and the resilient plate are attached to the peripheral edge of theoutlet to stop air leakage; and

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross sectional view showing that the guidingplate and the resilient plate are pushed away from the outlet to allowair flow through the outlet of the air pump casing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the nozzle structure in accordance withthe present invention has an air pump casing (10) to receive therein anair pump (20).

The air pump casing (10) has an outlet (11) defined in a bottom face ofthe air pump casing (10) and a bar (12) extending from two points on aperipheral edge defining the outlet (11). The bar (12) has twopositioning holes (121) and an extension hole (122) defined through thebar (12). The extension hole (122) is centrally defined between the twopositioning holes (121). A guiding element (13) is provided to thenozzle structure and includes a guiding bar (131), a spring (132) and aguiding plate (133).

The guiding bar (131) has an extension (1311) extendable through theextension hole (122) and a head (1312) formed on a distal end of theextension (1311). The guiding plate (133) has a disk (1331) withmultiple holes (1332) defined through a face of the disk (1331), twopositioning rods (1333) extending outward from the face of the disk(1331) to correspond to and extend through the two positioning holes(121) of the bar (12) and a tube (1334) formed on the face of the disk(133) to correspond to and receive therein a free end of the extension(1311).

A resilient plate (14) made of rubber or a similar material is providedwith two bosses (141) to correspond to two securing holes (1335) definedthrough the face of the disk (1331).

With reference to FIG. 3, it is noted that after the nozzle structure ofthe present invention is assembled, the two bosses (141) are extendedthrough the two corresponding securing holes (1335) to secure engagementbetween the resilient plate (14) and the disk (1331). The twopositioning rods (1333) are extended through the two positioning holes(121) of the bar (12) and the tube (1334) is extended through thecorresponding extension hole (122) to securely receive the free end ofthe extension (1311) before the spring (132) is mounted around the tube(1334). Thus, after the spring (132) is mounted around the tube (1334)and the free end of the extension (1311) is securely received in thetube (1334), two distal ends of the spring (132) are compressed betweenthe head (1312) and the disk (1331).

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 4, it is noted that when the air pump (20)is activated, the air pumped by the air pump (20) forces the guidingelement (13) to move away from the outlet (11). Thus the air is able tobe pumped out of the air pump casing (10) and into an inflatable object(not shown). Furthermore, when the inflatable object is not in use, theair pump axle (21) is extended out to abut a free end of the head (1312)to force the disk (1331) together with the resilient plate (14) to moveaway from the outlet (11). As a consequence of the moving away from theoutlet (11) of the disk (1331) and the resilient plate (14), the airinside the inflatable object is able to flow out of the inflatableobject.

In summary, the nozzle structure of the present invention is able tofacilitate the inflating and deflating processes of the air pump to theinflatable object and manual work is entirely not involved. Therefore,the user is able to readily complete the required work.

It is to be understood, however, that even though numerouscharacteristics and advantages of the present invention have been setforth in the foregoing description, together with details of thestructure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrativeonly, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape,size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention tothe full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms inwhich the appended claims are expressed.

1. A nozzle structure in combination with an air pump, wherein thenozzle structure comprises: an air pump casing to receive therein theair pump and provided with an outlet defined through a bottom face ofthe air pump casing; a resilient plate detachably engaging with aperipheral edge defining the outlet of the air pump casing via a guidingelement such that air pumped by the air pump is able to push theresilient plate away from the outlet when air is blowing out of the airpump casing and an air pump axle extending out from the air pump is ableto push the resilient plate away from engagement with the peripheraledge of the outlet to allow air to flow into the air pump casing.
 2. Thenozzle structure in combination with the air pump as claimed in claim 1,wherein the air pump casing has a bar extending from two points in theoutlet and the guiding element comprises a guiding bar with a head andan extension extending through an extension hole in the bar, a guidingplate with a tube extending from a face of the guiding plate to receivetherein a free end of the extension and a spring mounted around the tubeto allow the guiding plate to move relative to the air pump casing. 3.The nozzle structure in combination with the air pump as claimed inclaim 2, wherein the guiding plate has a disk with the tube formed ontop of the disk and two positioning rods to sandwich the tube andcorrespond to two positioning holes in the bar which has an extensionhole centrally defined in the bar to correspond to and allow the tube toextend therethrough.
 4. The nozzle structure in combination with the airpump as claimed in claim 3, wherein the resilient plate is securelyattached to a bottom face of the disk.
 5. The nozzle structure incombination with the air pump as claimed in claim 4, wherein theresilient plate has two bosses and the disk has two securing holesdefined to correspond to and allow extension of the two bosses of theresilient plate so that the resilient plate is securely attached to thedisk.